Burning lasers are fun but highly dangerous.
I built this tiny 1.6W 450nm titanium & copper keyring laser and it's scary! :D
You need suitable safety glasses, no messing about and not the ebay cheapo ones either.
But with using the glasses you can't see the beam, just the dot as that is how they work, blocking the light, which is a bummer but necessary for burning stuff or indoor use.
You can watch the beam outside without them so long as you don't reflect yourself or hit things you shouldn't.
Matches & balloons hit from around one metre. Lesser powered lasers wouldn't be so instantaneous.
Higher powered might set up the carpet :D
